News

TORONTO, February 5, 2002 (LSN.ca) – An investigation by the Globe and Mail has revealed that Canadian women are offering rent-a-womb contracts on the Internet and thanks to Canada’s lack of legislation on the matter business is booming. A reporter from the paper who posed on the Internet as a surrogate offering “to make babies with donor sperm for a fee” received eight e-mails within a week expressing interest .

The Globe uncovered one completed surrogacy transaction, where the woman, named only as Trish says she gave birth after being impregnated with the sperm of an Ontario man – the baby to be given to a UK couple who had paid an unspecified amount for the baby contract. The baby, born in a British hospital last year, had Trish listed as the biological mother and the British man as the father since he sent sperm samples to be used in the surrogacy. The Globe reports that after the birth of the child, Trish posted an ad on the Internet asking for $22,000 (U.S.) to do another surrogacy.

Another Vancouver woman was offered up to $50,000 to produce a child with unrelated sperm for a Vietnamese couple. The Globe estimates there are 50 to 60 surrogates in Canada.

“But the lack of a law in Canada, the publicly funded health-care system and what is perceived to be lax immigration laws, have helped create a fertile underground for baby-making services,” says the report. The Canadian Liberal government has promised legislation on new reproductive technologies for over ten years. With new reports that the Prime Minister is considering proroguing Parliament the proposed bill could be even further delayed.

See the Globe and Mail report at:  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/printarticle/gam/20020202/UBABYN